Study of the Post-canonical Pali Literature in Comparison with Sinhalese Materia

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It has been found that, so far, in the study of Therav. da or P. li Buddhism, the indigenous literature of Therav. da Buddhist countries has been little studied outside of each country. As for the Sinhala Buddhist literature, except for the overview of Godakumbura's History of the Sinhalese Literature, it is also not an exception. However, in Sri Lanka in the Middle Ages(12th to 15th century), literary activities were enthusiastically carried out by the Sinhalese Buddhists, and so the translation of the P. li a. hakath. s, P. li-Sihalese word lexicons(sannaya, gatapadaya, etc.), and also the original compositions on various topics were made. In this research project, the focus was concentrated on the following works, the Saddharmaratn. karaya, the Nik. yasa. grahaya, and the Saddharm. ka. k. raya. Through the textual and historical studies of these texts, it was confirmed that the salient traits of Northern or Mah. yana Buddhism can be seen, traits which had once been introduced and had flourished in Sri Lanka, even though officially it was to have been wiped out by the Sa. gha Reunification in the 12th century. In addition to these studies, on trips to Germany for the purpose of research, we were able to create a list of more than 1,000 old Sinhalese printed books(published from the end of 1800' century to the mid-20th century) kept in the University of Gottingen's library, which make up part of a collection by late Professor Heinz Bechert. Also, through research trips in and around Sri Lanka, we could obtain further books which seem available only on the island, and we photographed of mural paintings of Buddhist narratives in the old temples. Among them were found pictures of stories not included in authentic P. li canonical literature, but, nevertheless well known in the Northern Buddhists. The numerous photographs taken have now been analysed, and organized, and uploaded to the Website given below.